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For someone that is a sports and media nerd, the Super Bowl can cause a sensory overload at times. I have documented the advertisements that ran from 30 minutes before kickoff until the final whistle. The first section is broken down by the breaks, and the second section is the volume of ads that ran from each company. I also included the promos that NBC incessantly ran throughout the broadcast for comparison. A 30 second spot ran for an average of about $3.5M this year…I’ll let you do the math from here…

Very interesting to see the huge push from Hyundai, probably the hottest and fastest growing car company in the United States. The rest of the car world continued an aggressive push, and the Clint Eastwood/Chrysler/Detroit ad is obviously getting the most post-Super Bowl buzz. All of the beer companies, except Bud Light, seemed to take a bit of a step back, but we also probably saw more movie trailers than we’ve ever seen before. And again, I think we’re crystal clear on the shows that NBC really wants to succeed this spring.

There has been a great deal of talk about the quality of quarterback play in the NFL this year. Oddly enough, much of that chatter has revolved around a player that plays the game in a very unconventional way somewhat taking away from three quarterbacks that are having one of the best seasons in NFL history.

My goodness. All three players are having transcendent years, and all three players have a chance to (Brady and Brees will absolutely get it) shatter Dan Marino’s 27 year old passing record for yards in a season (5,084 yards). Brees could very well break it with 304 yards or more this Sunday with one more game to play, and Brady and Rodgers have a great chance to do so the last week of the season if everything continues as it already has.

Of these three players, Rodgers has certainly received the most attention because of his unbelievably hot start and the full year undefeated streak of his Green Bay Packers. Many have said for weeks that he has already earned the league MVP this season. It is hard for me to debate such a thing when you see the yardage he has amassed and his other-worldly TD:INT ratio, but don’t you think it’s important for us to reference the weapons they all have access to? Don’t you think it’s important for us to measure not just their quality of play, but also the value (Most VALUABLE Player…get it…VALUABLE is part of the name of the award…) they bring to their team?

Rodgers clearly has the best talent around him with Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, Donald Driver, Randall Cobb, and Jermichael Finley. The success Brees experiences mostly comes because of the comfort level he enjoys with his receiving corps because of how long they’ve played together. He does have a new and very good security blanket in Joey Graham as well. And Tom Brady continues to primarily throw to a 5’9″ (probably 4.7 sec 40 speed….maybe) receiver that isn’t beating anyone with his athleticism, an obviously lost a step Deion Branch and Chad Ochocinco, and two tight ends that most of the league overlooked because of their less than overwhelming physical skills.

I’m by no means saying that Brady deserves the MVP over Brees and Rodgers, but hasn’t he carried the heaviest load of the three quarterbacks this year (mediocre running backs, horrendous defense)? Isn’t he the most valuable player to his specific team right now? Hasn’t he done the most with the least? The Patriots continue to be the Miami Heat of the NFL…each week you can tell that the team across the ball from them has prepared especially hard to stop them. That game is their Super Bowl, but Tom Brady continues to come out and carve up any type of secondary or blitz packages you throw at him. Young and Montana had Rice. Manning had Harrison and Wayne. Brady has had….Wes Welker?

Regardless of who wins the MVP, there are three incredibly deserving players, and we know we have a must watch postseason ahead of us. Picture this…Packers v. Patriots on the turf in Indianapolis…could it get any better than that?

The Green Bay Packers fell to the lowly Kansas City Chiefs yesterday, and it was the best thing that has ever happened to them.

From Day 1 of this season, the Pack has looked as good as any team in the history of football, but they started to show more and more holes as the season has progressed….bad running game, suspect offensive line, suspect passing D. We saw similar things down the stretch with the 2007 New England Patriots. They were smoking teams by multiple touchdowns, but after a near loss to the Ravens late in the year, teams started to figure out how to slow down their offense and put some points up on their slower, veteran defense. As they continued to win, you could feel the pressure mounting. Once you get to 18-0 and you’re in the Super Bowl, there’s no way that you can just treat it like it’s the “next game.” The Patriots ran into a buzz saw. The Giants had a phenomenal second half of the season, and the Patriots seemed tired and tight in that Super Bowl. They just didn’t look like the same team that put 50+ on the Bills in three quarters earlier in the season. They weren’t just trying to be the best team that year, they were playing to be the best team EVER, and it obviously got to them. If that Giants team and that Patriots team played ten times on a neutral field that year, the Pats probably win eight or nine times. They were that much better than everyone else, but a team can only take so much pressure before cracking.

We’ve seen this type of undefeated run a few other times in recent history…

2009 Indianapolis Colts – 14-0, lost last two games. Lost Super Bowl to New Orleans Saints.
1998 Denver Broncos – 13-0, lost two of their last three. Won Super Bowl.
2005 Indianapolis Colts – 13-0, lost two of their last three. Won Super Bowl.
2009 New Orleans Saints – 13-0, last three straight. Won Super Bowl.
2011 Green Bay Packers – 13-0, lost in Week 15…Super Bowl – TBD.

Do you see a pattern there? Every other team in this modern era that started the season 13-0 went on to win the Super Bowl. Would anyone care about the 72-10 Chicago Bulls if they had ended up losing in the Finals? We all know the answer to that question. As much as the regular season matters to these teams, I can assure you that Tom Brady would have loved to drop a game or two in the regular season in 2007 if it meant winning the Super Bowl that year.

There is something that happens psychologically and emotionally to these teams when perfection is at stake. As soon as that is off the table, teams have the time and the ability to play loose, just like they’re just another team that is part of the chase. They also have a chance to look internally to see what those teams did to beat them…what are their weaknesses, what are their strengths, what kind of gameplan works best. The Patriots played so well for so long in 2007 that they just kept doing the same thing knowing that it had worked so many times before, but like the Chiefs showed this last weekend, there are certain schemes and scenarios that can shut you down regardless of how much better your are than everyone else.

The Packers are the best team in football. As long as they can be healthy for the Super Bowl run they’ll be our world champions. And they’ll probably look back on this one week and realize how helpful it was for them to get healthy over the final three weeks, refocus on their gameplans, and remove all the pressure of playing for perfection.

The Texans are one of the hottest teams in the league, 8-3, with a two game lead over division rival Tennessee. They’ve won five straight and have the second largest point differential in the league, behind only the 11-0 Green Bay Packers (Packers – +155, Texans – +114). Arian Foster is running almost as well as he did last year, and their defense continues to be dominant after the loss of Mario Williams. So do they honestly need a quarterback? Franchise QB, Matt Schaub is out for the year, and so is backup Matt Leinart after he broke his left collarbone in the first half of yesterday’s victory. Rookie from North Carolina, T.J. Yates is penciled in as the starter with former Jets backup, Kellen Clemens, as the only other signed QB on the roster. Rumor has it that the Texans plan to contact former Chiefs QB, Brodie Croyle, as a possible signing this week. Let’s call a spade a spade here…those are three bad to mediocre QBs (Clemens probably being the best of the bunch). Is this a playoff team? Absolutely. Can they win a game with any of those QBs? Probably not. Are they Super Bowl contenders with any of those QBs? Definitely not. Would this team be better if Brett Favre was playing QB instead of these three? (nodding my head emphatically) When Peter King of Sports Illustrated asked Texans GM, Rick Smith, if he would call on Favre, Smith responded that he “didn’t want to bring the circus to town.” But when Gark Kubiak was asked the same question, he responded that he wouldn’t close the door on anyone. We all know Favre is old and washed up, but he makes for some great TV. He could certainly muster up a couple of big games by year end. I say do it….even if it is just for us to follow another phenomenal storyline. It would certainly make us pay more attention to the Texans than the Cowboys…don’t pretend like the Texans ownership wouldn’t love that.

I take back everything I said about the Jets making the playoffs in yesterday’s podcast. Say what you will about Tim Tebow (and seriously, did he throw the ball this poorly in college? Why does it look like he has regressed?) the dude figures out ways to win games. Broncos are 4-1 since he took over as the starter. With the AFC West in the situation that it is (Raiders 5-4, Broncos 5-5, Chargers 4-5, Kansas City 4-5) why can’t this team make the playoffs?Image: everyjoe.com/sports/video-tim-tebow-scores-td-for-broncos/

Goodness gracious the NFL is having a great year. I feel like I can’t take my eyes off of a game even when the Jags, Chiefs, or Seahawks are involved. Anthony Dinwoodey Morris brings his unmatched expertise to discuss the NFL playoff picture, pick our favorite teams for the Super Bowl, and to discuss the tragic current state of the National Basketball Association.